Is the Harmony test worth it?

[MinesALatte]

Had my first call with the midwife today and she mentioned the Harmony test is more accurate than the NHS one, so just wondering what everyones thoughts were on if it’s worth the money as I believe I’ve read its £400?

I'm also looking at this test due to my age. I believe it's very accurate (99%) so probably worth doing

I think only you can know if it’s worth it to you. I am 35, my boyfriend was anxious, and we could afford it so to us it was worth it.

I had it done in both pregnancies because it gives fairly certain information and early in a pregnancy. Both times I lived in countries where termination would not have been possible had there been a fatal illness so I wanted to know ASAP in case I would want to terminate and needed to travel. I was able to afford it so it was worth it for me for the peace of mind.

Harmony is the brand (others are available). It’s 99%+ accurate for down’s, but less so for Edwards and Patau’s (higher risk of false positives than false negatives).

We were given the option of a NIPT funded by the NHS as the risk of down’s was high.

Is it worth it? Depends what you want out of it. The only way to know for certain if your baby has one of the trisomy issues is by CVS or amnio, both of which carry a small chance of miscarriage. The NIPT’s do not as it’s based on a maternal blood test.

I think so, but I had had 2 MC and was 36. I would say also that it buys you time to consider your options should you be told your baby has downs etc. With e NHS one because you have the tests at 12 weeks it dies not give you anytime to really think on it.

How old are you?

The older you are, the more likely you are to get a "higher risk" result in the NHS combined screening test (because age is one of the factors).

I was only 30 when I was pregnant with DC1, and now pregnant with DC2 at 34, so age is not a risk factor for me.

I was comfortable waiting for my NHS combined screening test result and luckily both were low risk. However, if they'd come back high risk I would definitely have paid for the NIPT.

If you are 40+ and/or particularly anxious, you might want to get the NIPT ASAP rather than waiting for the NHS combined test results.

@NameChange30 I’m 34

Snap

In that case my advice would be to wait and see what your NHS combined test result will be. It will probably be fine, but if it's higher risk you can get the NIPT at that point.

However if you're very anxious and have lots of money to spare then no harm going for it.

I am stingy though and prefer to spend my money on an osteopath (for crippling PGP)!

I had the NIPT when pregnant at 37 after a history of miscarriage. I needed fast and certain results as I was extremely anxious. I’m now almost 40 and 6 weeks pregnant. If I make it past 10 weeks then I will pay to do the NIPT privately. I also like the fact they can tell you if it’s a boy or girl with certainty. Not that it matters but it did help me to bond with and visual the baby.

I had DS at 39 and got the Harmony test, currently 8wks pregnant at 42 and just booked one for this baby in 2.5wks time.
Worth every penny for me personally as so much more accurate than NHS tests.

There's an interesting thread about it on the Antenatal Testing board. I came down against it. You're offered it anyway on the NHS if their initial tests suggest you are 'high risk'. There are quite a lot of false positives, which means you could at worst end up terminating a healthy pregnancy or at best be left stressing for a long time before it's possible to do an amnio or CVS test to confirm at 16 weeks or so.

It was definitely worth it for us. We wouldn’t want to continue the pregnancy if there were particular abnormalities and I wanted to know early on.
The NHS test would have automatically made us higher risk due to age (I was 40, DH 45).

@Megan2018 does partner’s age play a part? I’m 34 but he’s 44

It does in the risk of certain chromosome disorders @minesalatte

@WhatWouldPennyDo oh thank you! Didn’t realise that, thought it was just on the Mum’s side 😳

I 100% consider it’s worth it. I’m 40 and hubby is 38. It gave us incredible peace of mind. We got our results back in three days. It cost £400 and included a very comprehensive scan which gave an enormous amount of reassurance as it was.
I had undergone termination before for personal/circumstantial reasons and felt that if I had to go through that again, ie if there was anything critically wrong with this baby, I wanted to know ASAP and certainly before I would have had NHS results. Thankfully the results were all absolutely fine and we also found out the sex of the baby. It was a very nerve wrecking few days’ wait because I was so attached to the baby already by that time but it was so worth it for us.

I had the Panorama test when I fell pregnant at 38 and my partner was 45. It was 100% worth it for me as I was already anxious about being an older mother. The results came back in approx 1 week.

We had the test done at Fetal Medicine Centre on Harley Street and although we paid £400 i feel it worth every penny. They also included 2 scans at 10 and 12 weeks. The scans were so clear compared with the ones we had in NHS. I totally recommend the FMC. Hope all goes well for you.

We paid £2000 as it was brand new at the time.

Completely worth it!

Sorry, me again! A few people have mentioned that it will tell you the sex. This is correct, but if like us, you don’t won’t want to know early, you can ask them to withhold this information. Wanted to let you know in case that was something that might sway you either way!

Good luck with what you decide @MinesALatte

Thank you everyone! Lots to think about!

@WhatWouldPennyDo thank you - that’s helpful as I don’t want to know the sex! ☺️

@MinesALatte
They do test for some disorders that are sex chromosome linked eg Turners so if you don’t get the sex back you won’t get “full” results I think so that’s something to think about too

I echo what others have said and see what your NHS combined screening comes back as first. I was convinced I would have the NIPT due to my older age but the nhs one was reassuring enough that I chose not to. They are super accurate though for downs screening but less so for Edwards and Pataus.

@Foreverbaffled - do you mean the NHS is super accurate for downs but less so for Edwards and Pataus? I think that’s what concerns me 😕

@minesalatte oh sorry I meant the NIPT (harmony) is super accurate for downs but less so for Ed/Pat. The NHS combined screening is around 85% accurate for all as far as I’m aware (someone correct me if I’m wrong!)